TPK, WOS send construction materials sector higher

European equities markets were higher Thursday as investors hoped that positive quarterly reports mean that the economy is beginning to recover from the global recession.

In London, the FTSE 100 added 1.85 percent to 4,631.61 while the FTSE 250 was up 2.22 percent to 7,934.63.

The construction materials sector had a good day as retailer Travis Perkins (LSE: TPK) added 13.57 percent to lead gainers on the 250 and as Wolseley (LSE: WOS) was up 10.17 percent on the 100.

Gainers on the 100 were led by BT Group, which added 12.6 percent, while the worst performance of the session on that index was turned in by publisher Reed Elsevier (LSE: REL) with a delcine of 12.55 percent.

Utilities had a down day as gas utility Centrica (LSE: CAN) was down 2.92 percent while Pennon (LSE: PNN) a water utility that also has interests in waste management fell 2.62 percent and water utility Severn Trent (SLE: SVT) dropped 2.06 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 2.31 percent to 931.72 while the Dax added 1.71 percent to 5,360.66, the IBEX was 2 percent higher to 10,874.4 and the CAC-40 gained 2.08 percent to 3,435.49.

Carmaker VW (FWB: VOW) turned in the best performance on the Dax as it added 5.69 percent while Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext: ALU; NYSE: ALU; TYO: 6687) topped winners on the CAC-40 with a gain of 9.36 percent.

There were only five decliners on the CAC-40, led by conglomerate Lagardere (Euronext: MMB) with a decline of 0.39 percent, while chemicals group BASF (FWB: BAS) dropped 1.75 percent as it had the worst day on the Dax.

Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region were also higher on the session.

The Nikkei 225 reached a 9-month closing high as it ended up 0.51 percent to 10,165.21 in Tokyo, while the Topix index added 0.71 percent to 936.94 and the Mothers market gained 1.99 percent to 464.73.

Carmakers saw gains after both Honda (TYO: 7267) and Nissan (TYO: 7201) reported that they had reached profits in the most recent quarter.

Toyota (TYO: 7203) was up 3.4 percent while Honda added 8.7 percent and Nissan gained 10 percent.

The Hang Seng was 0.49 percent higher to 20,234.08 while the Kospi was up 0.68 percent to 1,534.74 and in Australia the Sydney Ordinaries added 1.13 percent to 4,195.9 and the S&P/ASX200 gained 1.15 percent to 4,190.4.

The Straits Times Index was up 1.23 percent to 2,636.19, the Sensex added 1.41 percent to 15,387.96 and the Shanghai Composite gained 1.69 percent to 3,321.56.

In Taiwan, the Taiex was 0.8 percent lower to 7,027.11.

Wall Street was up in early afternoon trade as more reports of positive quarterly results improved sentiment.

At just past 1 p.m. in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.74 percent higher to 9,228.52 while the Nasdaq Composite had added 1.38 percent to 1,994.91 and the S&P 500 was up 1.8 percent to 992.74.

Gains were also helped after Goldman Sachs upgraded General Electric (NYSE: GE) to “buy”, sending the conglomerate’s stock up 8.32 percent at early afternoon in New York.

Story link: TPK, WOS send construction materials sector higher